Resume

• 1996

  Linguistics Society of America

  French

  American Sign Language

  German

  MA

  PhD

  Dissertation title: Opacity and Sound Change in the Polish Lexicon\nCommittee: Jaye Padgett (advisor)

  Junko Ito

  Armin Mester

  Caro Struijke

  Linguistics

  GSA

• 1992

  SB

  Mathematics

  minor in Linguistics

  LMF

  LSC

  GaMIT

• Phonetics

  Qualitative Research

  Historical Linguistics

  Teaching

  Science

  Curriculum Design

  Linguistics

  Tutoring

  Higher Education

  Writing

  Academic Writing

  LaTeX

  R

  Phonology

  Editing

  Curriculum Development

  Research

  Quantitative Research

  University Teaching

  Mathematics

  Signs of efficiency: Maintaining torso stability affects sign language vocabulary

  Donna Jo Napoli

  Many properties of languages

  including sign languages

  are not uniformly distributed among items in the lexicon. Some of this nonuniformity can be accounted for by appeal to articulatory ease

  with easier articulations being overrepresented in the lexicon in comparison to more difficult articulations. The literature on ease of articulation deals only with the active effort internal to the articulation itself. We note the existence of a previously unstudied aspect of articulatory ease

  which we call reactive effort: the effort of resisting incidental movement that has been induced by an articulation elsewhere in the body. For example

  reactive effort is needed to resist incidental twisting and rocking of the torso induced by path movement of the manual articulators in sign languages. We argue that

  as part of a general linguistic drive to reduce articulatory effort

  reactive effort should have a significant effect on the relative frequency in the lexicon of certain types of path movements. We support this argument with evidence from Italian Sign Language

  Sri Lankan Sign Language

  and Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language

  evidence that cannot be explained solely by appeal to constraints on bimanual coordination. As the first exploration of the linguistic role of reactive effort

  this work contributes not only to the developing field of sign language phonetics

  but to our understanding of phonetics in general

  adding to a growing body of functionalist literature which shows that some linguistic patterns emerge from more fundamental factors of the physical world.\n\nThis article is adapted from our longer

  more technical 2016 article \"Reactive effort as a factor that shapes sign language lexicons\" in Language 92(2) (p.275–297).

  Signs of efficiency: Maintaining torso stability affects sign language vocabulary

  Donna Jo Napoli

  Many properties of languages

  including sign languages

  are not uniformly distributed among items in the lexicon. Some of this nonuniformity can be accounted for by appeal to articulatory ease

  with easier articulations being overrepresented in the lexicon in comparison to more difficult articulations. The literature on ease of articulation deals only with the active effort internal to the articulation itself. We note the existence of a previously unstudied aspect of articulatory ease

  which we call reactive effort: the effort of resisting incidental movement that has been induced by an articulation elsewhere in the body. For example

  reactive effort is needed to resist incidental twisting and rocking of the torso induced by path movement of the manual articulators in sign languages. We argue that

  as part of a general linguistic drive to reduce articulatory effort

  reactive effort should have a significant effect on the relative frequency in the lexicon of certain types of path movements. We support this argument with evidence from Italian Sign Language

  Sri Lankan Sign Language

  and Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language

  evidence that cannot be explained solely by appeal to constraints on bimanual coordination. As the first exploration of the linguistic role of reactive effort

  this work contributes not only to the developing field of sign language phonetics

  but also to our understanding of phonetics in general

  adding to a growing body of functionalist literature showing that some linguistic patterns emerge from more fundamental factors of the physical world.

  Reactive effort as a factor that shapes sign language lexicons

  Donna Jo Napoli

  Rebecca Wright

  Spoken language has a well-known drive for ease of articulation

  which Kirchner (1998

  2004) analyzes as reduction of the total magnitude of all biomechanical forces involved. We extend Kirchner’s insights from vocal articulation to manual articulation

  with a focus on joint usage

  and we discuss ways that articulatory ease might be realized in sign languages. In particular

  moving more joints and/or joints more proximal to the torso results in greater mass being moved

  and thus more articulatory force being expended

  than moving fewer joints or moving more distal joints. We predict that in casual conversation

  where articulatory ease is prized

  moving fewer joints should be favored over moving more

  and moving distal joints should be favored over moving proximal joints. We report on the results of our study of the casual signing of fluent signers of American Sign Language

  which confirm our predictions: in comparison to citation forms of signs

  the casual variants produced by the signers in our experiment exhibit an overall decrease in average joint usage

  as well as a general preference for more distal articulation than is used in citation form. We conclude that all language

  regardless of modality

  is shaped by a fundamental drive for ease of articulation. Our work advances a cross-modality approach for considering ease of articulation

  develops a potentially important vocabulary for describing variations in signs

  and demonstrates that American Sign Language exhibits variation that can be accounted for in terms of ease of articulation. We further suggest that the linguistic drive for ease of articulation is part of a broader tendency for the human body to reduce biomechanical effort in all physical activities.

  On the linguistic effects of articulatory ease

  with a focus on sign languages

  Donna Jo Napoli

  When the arms move in certain ways

  they can cause the torso to twist or rock. Such extraneous torso movement is undesirable

  especially during sign language communication

  when torso position may carry linguistic significance

  so we expend effort to resist it when it is not intended. This so-called \"reactive effort\" has only recently been identified by Sanders and Napoli (2016)

  but their preliminary work on three genetically unrelated languages suggests that the effects of reactive effort can be observed cross-linguistically by examination of sign language lexicons. In particular

  the frequency of different kinds of manual movements in the lexicon correlates with the amount of reactive effort needed to resist movement of the torso. Following this line of research

  we present evidence from 24 sign languages confirming that there is a cross-linguistic preference for minimizing the reactive effort needed to keep the torso stable.

  A cross-linguistic preference for torso stability in the lexicon: Evidence from 24 sign languages

  Constructed languages (purposefully invented languages like Esperanto and Klingon) have long captured the human imagination. They can also be used as pedagogical tools in the linguistics classroom to enhance how certain aspects of linguistics are taught and to broaden the appeal of linguistics as a field. In this article

  I discuss the history and nature of constructed languages and describe various ways I have successfully brought them into use in the classroom. I conclude from the results of my courses that linguists should take a closer look at how they might benefit from similarly enlisting this often criticized hobby into more mainstream use in the linguistics classroom.

  Constructed languages in the classroom

  Nathan

  Sanders

  Haverford College

  Swarthmore College

  University of Toronto

  Williams College

  I taught introduction to linguistics

  phonetics/phonology

  syntax

  semantics

  historical linguistics

  linguistic typology

  advanced research methods

  and the senior research seminar for the Department of Linguistics.

  Visiting Assistant Professor

  Greater Philadelphia Area

  Swarthmore College

  I was coordinator of the Linguistics Program. I designed the entire curriculum from the ground up and taught introduction to linguistics

  phonology

  phonetics

  syntax

  logic/semantics

  historical linguistics

  linguistic typology

  and the senior research seminar.

  Assistant Professor

  Pittsfield

  Massachusetts Area

  Williams College

  Greater Philadelphia Area

  Based at Haverford College

  I taught syntax

  phonetics/phonology

  and introduction to linguistics for the entire Tri-College Department of Linguistics (Haverford College

  Bryn Mawr College

  and Swarthmore College).

  Visiting Assistant Professor

  Haverford College

  Toronto

  Canada Area

  I teach introduction to language

  quantitative methods

  and graduate phonology for the Department of Linguistics.

  Assistant Professor

  Teaching Stream

  University of Toronto